The following numbers
were taken from B&C Records of North American Deer and Elk,
1st Edition. Even though the numbers are more than ten years
old, I still found then interesting. Math is not my strong point
so the numbers my be off slightly. I used B&C Records of
North American Deer and Elk because it also includes outside
spread measurements in its tabulations. I hope these figures
will help people more accurately understand the outside spread
widths Columbia Blacktails are capable of attaining. Another
thing to remember is that excessive width is not a plus when
using B&C's scoring system. Many bucks in fact do not make
the book because of the deductions that excessive width can
cause. I have no idea how many of these type bucks are taken
every year but the numbers must be considerable. One thing I
do know is that twenty plus inch wide Columbian Blacktails are
much more common than many hunters realize.

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California’s
Widest Bucks

Outside Spread Widths
in inches

Total number of 20 plus inch
bucks - 168 out of 236 entries - 64 %

Break down of 20 plus inch
bucks:

20 - 23 7/8 - 120

24 - 25 7/8 - 31

26 - 27 7/8 - 11

28 - 29 7/8 - 02

30 - 35 3/8 - 04

California’s widest - 35
3/8

State record - Inside spread
26 5/8, Outside spread 30 5/8

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Oregon’s
Widest Bucks

Outside
Spread Widths in inches

Total number of 20 plus inch
bucks - 97 out of 173 entries - 56 %

Break down of 20 plus inch
bucks:

20 - 23 7/8 - 73

24 - 25 7/8 - 16

26 - 27 7/8 - 07

28+ - 01

Oregon’s widest -29 6/8

State record - Inside spread
21 4/8, Outside spread 25 3/8

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Washington’s
Widest Bucks

Outside
Spread Widths in inches

Total number of 20 plus inch
bucks - 47 out of 112 entries - 42 %

Break down of 20 plus inch
bucks:

20 - 23 7/8 - 37

24 - 25 78 - 09

26 - 28 - 01

Washington’s widest - 26
4/8

State record - Inside spread
20 2/8, Outside spread 22 4/8

The following numbers
were compiled from the most recent edition of Boone and Crockett’s
Records of North American Big Game. Hopefully these numbers
will help to inform hunters on where the biggest Blacktails
have been coming from. Since the latest addition of "the
book" only includes entries up until 1997 the numbers shown
were compiled from the five years preceding 1997.

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Number
of all-time B&C entries by state,

California - 281

Oregon - 211

Washington - 106

Top 3
Blacktails of all-time

#1 - 182 2/8 Lester Miller,
Lewis County, Washington, 1953

#2 - 175 2/8 Clem Coughlin,
Mendocino County, California, 1981

#3 - 172 2/8 B.G. Shurtleff,
Marion County, Oregon, 1969

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California
- Number of entries per County, 1993-1997

Mendocino - 20

Trinity - 12

Tehama - 6

Siskiyou - 5

Santa Clara - 4

Humboldt - 3

Lake - 1

Shasta - 1
____________

Total - 52

_____________________________________________________

California
-Total number of entries per year, 1993-1997

1993 - 17

1994 - 5

1995 - 8

1996 - 15

1997 - 7

_____________________________________________________

California
- All time top producing counties

Mendocino - 77

Trinity - 73

Siskiyou - 31

_____________________________________________________

Oregon
- Number of entries per County, 1993-1997

Clackamas - 4

Lane - 3

Linn - 2

Jackson - 2

Lincoln - 1

Columbia - 1

Josephine - 1

Douglas - 1

Washington - 1
---------------------------
Total - 16

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Oregon
- Total number of entries per year, 1993-1997

1993 - 3

1994 - 4

1995 - 6

1996 - 3

1997 - 0

Oregon’s
- All time top producing counties

Jackson - 45

Linn - 20

Clackamas - 19

_____________________________________________________

Washington
- Number of entries per County, 1993-1997

Whatcom - 2

Lewis - 1

Mason - 1

Clark - 1

Jefferson - 1
_____________

Total - 6

_____________________________________________________

Washington
- Total number of entries per year, 1993-1997

1993 - 2

1994 - 1

1995 - 1

1996 - 2

1997 - 0

_____________________________________________________

Washington’s
- All time top producing counties

Lewis - 22

Pierce - 17

King - 10

The following information was compiled
form the incredibly informative book
"The Deer of North America"

To print click on chart
and then print

To measure heart girth measure
the chest circumfrance directly behind the deer's front shoulders. I use
this chart as a quick an easy way of estimating the live and field dressed
weights of Columbian Blacktails and have found it surprisingly accurate.